Smartphones have their own mobile operating system. The first smartphone to find a widespread market was the Blackberry, but that quickly lost ground after Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007. That was followed by smartphones powered by Google’s Android mobile operating system.

Taiwan's government spokesman has drawn fire for posting an image of an iPhone 5 on Facebook, along with an appeal to consume more, with angry members of the public asking why he did not urge people to buy home-grown smartphone HTC instead. Hu Yu-wei, who is also the information minister, on Sunday posted a picture of the latest Apple smartphone and a line reading "Bolster consumption and economy," sparking a wave of criticism. In the face of mounting pressure, Hu later posted on his Facebook page another picture of an HTC cellphone which he said was the one he used himself. The iPhone 5 he originally posted belonged to a friend, he said. AFP

Registration system for imported food

China on Monday launched a registration system to record imported food by type and place of origin, in a bid to establish a tracking system for food imports and to guarantee safety. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine required that starting yesterday, food exporters or agents overseas, together with consignees in China, should register imported food on the website http://ire.eciq.cn Xinhua

China has most microbloggers

China has the world's largest number of microbloggers, said a report on the country's new-media development. The report, published by the Social Sciences Academic Press annually, quoted the China Internet Network Information Centre, which said that about 274 million Chinese had microblog accounts as of June. The number of microbloggers increased sharply from about 63 million in 2010, said the report issued by a team of social sciences experts headed by Yin Yungong, director of the Institute of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Xinhua

Search for six miners continues nine days on

Search and rescue continued yesterday for six miners trapped in a flooded colliery pit of the northeastern Heilongjiang province for nine days, though their chances of survival were slim. The six people had been trapped in a pit of Jiayi Coal Mine in Jidong county in the city of Jixi since September 22, the local workplace safety authorities said. Fang Dongchu, Jixi city's safety chief, said the flooded pit had been drained on Sunday, when rescuers were finally able to enter. As of Monday morning, the rescuers had detected no sign of life. "But we won't give up," he said, "though their chances of survival are slim after nine days." Fang said the search would last for four days. Xinhua